DOJ investigates former top military leader in cyber attack leak

Retired Marine General James “Hoss” Cartwright was the second-highest ranking member of the U.S. military, and a key Obama advisor who served as the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Legal sources tell NBC News Cartwright has been notified he’s the target of a Justice Department criminal investigation into a leak about a covert U.S. cyber attack on Iran’s nuclear program. NBC’s Michael Isikoff reports.

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This content comes from Closed Captioning that was broadcast along with this program.

>>>good evening. nbc news has learned the former number two man in the
joint chiefs
at the pentagon, a new retired
marine corps
four-
star general
with a close working relationship with
president obama
is under veinvestigation for leaking a
top secret
government project called the stuknet virus. it wormed its way into computers that ran
iran's nuclear program
. the leak of it's existence did damage to u.s. efforts against
iran
. the president vowed to find the person responsible. now comes our report tonight. his name is
james cartwright
, known as hos, his
call sign
as a fighter pilot. he is the target of a
criminal investigation
by the
department of justice
for a leak of intelligence. we begin with
michael isikoff
.

>> reporter: cartwright was in the key circle of
national security
for
president obama
. cartwright is notified he is the target of a
justice departmentcriminal investigation
into a highly sensitive leak about a covert u.s.
cyber attack
on
iran's nuclear program
.

>>my attitude has been
zero tolerance
for these kinds of leaks, these are
criminal acts
when they release information like this.

>> reporter: the "the new york times" last year broke the story that
president obama
had secretly ordered a stepped up cyber weapon attack, using a
computer virus
known as stuxnet. and he conceded and oversaw the
special operation
from the pept dwon. he did not respond for a request for contact. gregory craig said only i have no comment, his attorney. key details about the stuxnet attack, include code word
olympic games
and success in disabling nearly 1,000 iranian centrifuges.

>>this leak was very damaging. clearly what was going on here was a method and should have been protected and it had devastating consequences.

>> reporter: the fbi originally focused on when the leak came from the
white house
, but late last year, agents started zeroing in on cartwright, who retired from the pentagon in
2011
. the motives of whoever leaked remain a mystery.

>>many reasons people leak
classified information
. sometimes to attack a program. sometimes to defend it. many times we just never know.

>> reporter: white house
and
justice department
officials declined to comment on any aspect of the case, but legal sources tell nbc news,
federal prosecutors
have not issued subpoenas for phone records from "the new york times." brian.